Who is 'right-wing' and what is 'pro-Israel'?

Labels attached to news pieces frame stories in the readers’ minds and ultimately, shape political views. Haaretz as a case study.

In Haaretz’s recent expose “How the state helped right-wing groups settle East Jerusalem,” the use of the term “right-wing” is both superfluous and disingenuous. Whether one sees the agenda of settler organizations, like Elad and Ateret Cohanim, as left or right, it is being implemented through illegal, crooked means. This is the central aspect of the story and, while saturated in politics, should speak for itself.

So why did Haaretz feel compelled to qualify the settler groups as “right-wing” and Dror Etkes, the “activist” who initiated legal proceedings against them, as “leftist?” The use of political labels is a common journalistic tool for identifying a group or individual on the political spectrum; a way to help orient the reader. But in many cases such labels may actually obscure the real story. Here, the familiar left-right distinction detracts from the fact that the upper echelons of the state and its authorities are in contempt of law and encourages the reader to deduce, from the headline itself, whose “side” he should be on.

This report is just one example of the misuse of labels in news stories, but it is a strong one precisely because it is not a piece about two competing political visions, as is the issue surrounding the cultural center in Ariel, one could argue.

“Left” and “right” are not the only labels being used extraneously in the paper. Last spring, around Israel Independence Day, Elie Wiesel published an ad in three major American newspapers stating: “For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics.” Haaretz then published a story about American reactions to the ad, taking the liberty to call it the “‘pro-Israel’ Jerusalem ad.” (Barak Ravid. “U.S. Officials Slam Pro-Israel Jerusalem Ad.” Haaretz. April 21, 2010).

What prompted Haaretz to classify the ad as “pro-Israel”? At first glance it seems that the paper is weighing in on the matter by equating the insistence that Jerusalem is beyond political discourse with a “pro-Israel” stance. However, anyone familiar with Haaretz’s journalistic style who has also read the ad must conclude that the paper’s insertion of the adjective “pro-Israel” could only mean one of two things: Either it was an error committed by the copyeditor when formulating the headline, or, more likely, Haaretz intended to communicate that since Wiesel’s ad expresses unmistakable support for the Israeli government line (which currently is, in fact, that Jerusalem is not up for discussion), it therefore qualifies as “pro-Israel.”

However, the ad did not convey that Jerusalem’s future should be determined unequivocally by Israel’s government, but that Jerusalem is beyond the bounds of political negotiation altogether. Wiesel is not interested in Jerusalem’s status as a segregated, conflict-ridden city administered by the State of Israel, but rather with his own personal conception of historical and primordial entitlement to the city as a Jew (not an Israeli). The newspaper’s choice to label this as “pro-Israel” is therefore misinformed at best and biased at worst. But more importantly, it shows how the use of such dichotomous labels in the news can obscure, rather than elucidate, a story.

After all, the term “pro-Israel” has become a highly contested concept, specifically among American Jews, as exemplified most plainly by the fact that there are now three rival Israel lobbies in the US – AIPAC, J Street and the Emergency Committee for Israel –that all identify as “pro-Israel.”

Whereas for the first 20 years of Israel’s existence, being “pro-Israel” in the American Jewish community largely meant unconditional support for the Israeli government line, since the 1977 shift from Labor to Likud rule and the subsequent war in Lebanon, engaged American Jews increasingly define “pro-Israelism” in relation to what they deem to be in Israel’s best interests – and there are many different notions of what those interests are and how they should be implemented.

These cases call into question the newspaper’s use of political demarcations as descriptive, when in fact they primarily function as prescriptive and normative. Journalists are obviously not objective or apolitical, but they are supposed to tell a story or present an analysis. They should not perpetuate slogans and broad political designations, especially when they do not serve to illuminate any aspect of the story. Although the intention behind using popular markers may be to level with the reader, often the effect is that the terms guide the content, instead of the content guiding the terms.

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COMMENTS

There are dictionary descriptions for terms, then there are terms that are misused, despite their dictionary definitions.
Then there are terms that are understood by the great unwashed because they have been repeated over and over again an infinite number of times without regard to the dictionary definitions or previous usage.
The political/cultural/psychological terms, “right-wing, and “left-wing” do not necessarily lack a specific meaning within a specific context. They are short cuts to long winded explanations which are normally understood by the context in which they appear.
Right-wing media use the word, “socialist” in a manner which is understood to be pejorative. Left-wing media may often use “capitalistic” in a fashion liable to displease dyed in the wool Republicans.
I think that the rarely change minds, they only annoy and occasionally confuse the issues meant to be discussed.

Reply to Comment

Ben Israel

FridayNovember 26, 2010

Israel has a relatively democratic system. This system elects a government. Israel is a self-defined Zionist state. This is acceptable to a large majority of the Jewish population (I would guess around 85-90%). Given these facts, it should be clear that the government of Israel, when it defines national policy, is determining what is in the best interests of the country, within its self-defintion of being Zionist.
Tbus, someone who comes up and says ” I love Israel, but I think it should be boycotted”, or “I love Israel but I think its military leaders should all be subject to prosecution for war crimes”, or “I love Israel but it should be condemned in the United Nations”, or “I love Israel but its self-definition of being a Zionist state makes it guilty of apartheid”, or “I love Israel but I view Arab terrorism as a viable form of protest against Israel’s policy” CAN NOT BE SAID TO BE REALLY PRO-ISRAEL.
It is not enough to say “I think the state of Israel can continue to exist as long as it stops being Zionist” or that it should not have the right to self-defense in security matters does not make one pro-Israel. Being pro-Israel is a matter of supporting the basic policies of the government. Of course, this can leave one plenty of room to argue about what Israel’s policy should be regarding relations with the Palestinians, positions regarding what should be offered in the so-called “Peace negotiations” and such, but working to delegitimize Israel or advocating the things I outlined at the top of this comment is anti-Israel.

I guess that I love Israel, I have been here 43years and have no intention of going anywhere else.
However, I do not support “the basic policies of the current Israeli government, just as many Americans did not support the Bush government or many Frenchmen do not support the Sarkozy regime.
I am no fan of BDS, but I understand how many Israelis, Palestinians and “foreigners are frustrated by the Israeli government’s seemingly unstoppable crimes against the Palestinian people.
Refusing to recognize the difference between the people and the Israeli government is a useful tool both for Bibi and Hamas; refusing to recognize the difference between the Hamas government and party and the people of Gaza is a useful to both for Bibi and Hamas.

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I am an independent writer, translator and editor, originally from NYC. My publications include The New York Times, Salon, The Daily Beast, Al Jazeera America and The Forward.

I began working as an editor with Haaretz.com in 2012. Before that I was an editor with +972, and have also worked for various NGOs, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Ir Amim. I write freelance for a variety of outlets. I am fascinated by the role Israel plays in Jewish identity and American politics and wrote my MA thesis on the changing definition of “pro-Israelism” in American Jewry.

I am active with Ta’ayush, a direct-action Arab-Jewish group whose activism focuses on the human and political rights of the rural Palestinian communities of the occupied South Hebron Hills.

About +972 Magazine

+972 is an independent, blog-based web magazine. It was launched in August 2010, resulting from a merger of a number of popular English-language blogs dealing with life and politics in Israel and Palestine.

+972 is an independent, blog-based web magazine. It was launched in August 2010, resulting from a merger of a number of popular English-language blogs dealing with life and politics in Israel and Palestine.